


The Rising

by Alexxya



Category: The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Action & Romance, Developing Relationship, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fight Scenes, Foreshadowing, Gen, Human Matt Donovan, Hunter Jeremy Gilbert, Hybrid Klaus Mikaelson, Jeremy is important, Katherine pierce/Elijah Mikaelson - Freeform, Minor Bonnie Bennett/Jeremy Gilbert, Minor Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson, Mystery, Original Character(s), Plot-Driven, Protective Elijah Mikaelson, Protective Rebekah Mikaelson, Psychics, Silas isn't a wimp, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow burn Damon/OC, Vampire Caroline Forbes, Vampire Hunters, Vampires, Werewolf Hunters, Witches, actions have consequences, realistic relationship build-up, side characters have storylines too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:08:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24444835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexxya/pseuds/Alexxya
Summary: "Believing lies is easy when you want them to be true."The immortal Silas just wants to die to be with his one true love.Killing so many people in the process won't have consequences.The cure will fix all of Elena's problems.What Damon and Stefan do for her is for the better.And the group didn't leave a trail from that island back to Mystic Falls.
Relationships: Damon Salvatore & Stefan Salvatore, Damon Salvatore & Stefan Salvatore & Original Female Character(s), Damon Salvatore/Original Female Character(s), Elena Gilbert/Damon Salvatore, Elena Gilbert/Stefan Salvatore
Comments: 6
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Kaithlyn is played by Jordana Brewster.
> 
> Wanna know why you should read the story? Good! If the first scene didn't hook you, read the end notes.

.

chapter 1: the day Jeremy died

.

Every time the Gilberts lost someone, their house became uncharacteristically quiet.

Perhaps it was the suddenness of it all, she couldn’t explain, but for her family, before there were wails and tears and noise —from thrown objects, slammed doors, bottles of alcohol filling up yet another glass—, there was silence. 

Elena smiled. 

Dog barks, drills, water running, lights flickering, cupboards drawing, lawnmowers, neighbors talking, children playing, trees soughing.

 _So much noise everywhere_. The Gilberts didn’t just lose someone. Any moment now, her brother would gasp for air and his heart would flutter.

“Elena?”

She could feel him behind her, his feet pressing into the wooden floor. Was there anything to say? She was calm now.

“What Meredith said-“

“She doesn’t-“ She swallowed. “Meredith doesn’t know my family, Stefan.” Elena had nothing to say to the woman who, after she messed with her life without permission, had the nerve to barge into her house to say her brother was dead.

Stefan’s tone got softer. “I know… What I was trying to say…” He came closer to her, urging her to look away from her brother for a moment. “If it were true-” She grabbed Jeremy’s hand tighter. “-what would you do?”

“It's not-“

“Think about it-“

“I don’t have to think about it because it’s not real, it’s impossible,” she snapped and eyed him coldly. “I'm a doppelganger!” The words slammed against the walls and what followed was all in one breath. “I was born to die, my destiny is to die. In what world does the doppelganger get to be undead while all the people around her die?” 

Her eyes were wet, one blink away from letting it fall. But his gaze held her eyes open and it was only after he gave a short nod and mumbled “Okay" that she looked away, back to her brother. Tears fell from the corner of her eyes, making a shiny path down her cheeks. 

One of his hands rested on a shoulder, but she couldn’t grab it, she had to hold on to Jeremy, keep his hands warm.

“Damon messaged me,” he said. “He just got off the island with Bonnie. They’ll be here by nightfall.” 

Her head shook up and down and her eyelids pressed tighter together. Her chested moved up and down more easily because as long as they were on their way, she knew everything would be alright.

The cursed island was far behind them now. Nothing to take from it and nothing to come from it anymore.

,.,

The moment they hit the beach on the island it was apparent to her that Galen got into something deep. 

Trees swayed in the wind and the song their branches produced wasn’t just background noise. She had heard of those patterns before: if they weren’t supernatural, they’d be fast asleep, lulled into a dream.

_A nightmare, most likely._

“It's done,” he said and came next to her on the beach. And done it was, the boat was hitched on the shore. “So this is it then? Kaithlyn…”

She nodded and pointed. “That's lupine growing on the bark of the trees… It’s addictive to werewolves, it makes them go crazy.”

He motioned his head toward a shrub. “Vervain.”

Kaithlyn shot him a stare, but he matched her look with the same poise. How could he dare to explain the most basic hunting information to her? The flower she identified was one of the many with effects on werewolves, which was something his training didn’t cover.

“Right.” She walked straight ahead, but he didn’t follow. 

“Listen,” he said. “He might not mean much to you, but Galen was my master, he taught me everything I know about hunting.” 

His tone didn’t fly past her head. With her back still to him, she asked, “If you regard him so highly, why did you report his absence to the council?”

Heavy steps thudded towards her until they didn’t. Voice much softer now, he said, “It's never been like this… He likes to hunt on his own, but he never went this quiet for this long. I ignored it at first because it was _him_ , but now…”

She chuckled. “Yes, it’s _him_ , Jayden. I wouldn’t have gone on hunting missions with him if he was riff-raff, would I?” She took her hands from her coat pockets. “But this place is giving me a bad feeling. Let’s see what’s he been up to.”

The air between them cleared and when they entered the forest, they did it side by side. Alert not to each other, but to the world around them.

Brown riding boots protected her feet from the twigs and thorny shrubs, while her black trench coat kept her warm from the cold late March afternoon.

They made a mess out of the vegetation on the ground, a sign of human life in a place that was just nature before. They weren’t the only ones to leave their mark it seemed as they reached a part of the woods clearly walked on so much so that the ground was barren.

A path.

They exchanged a look. Who could have spent time on this island, which was naturally enforced against both humans and supernaturals? 

As Jayden looked back and forth at the path, something caught her eye on the side. She grabbed a pebble and tossed it ahead. The sound of a whip cracked the air and a tree branch snapped in the way of the path.

Several pieces of wood jutted out, carved in such a way they were sharp at the tip. It was high enough off the ground that it was level with her chest. This was no nature.

“Hunter work,” he said. “But in a place like this…” 

“Is Galen the type to join a sect?” she asked and he shook his head. “Let me check again,” she said and placed her hand over his chest.

Eyes closed, she used his connection to Galen to locate him once again. The same tingles in her palm and an internal compass directed her to the direction she found initially. And parting from the string that connected her to his location was another one much thinner and of different vibration.

“We're close,” was all she said. 

She didn’t anticipate this. When she used her abilities last night, she found only one link. What could have happened between then and now that made his spirit vibrate like that?

It wasn’t death, that much she knew. Galen was an expert hunter who had taken down dozens of vampires. And if the unthinkable did happen, why would a link lead her to another place?

_What are you hiding?_

Traps dodged on autopilot, they finally broke into a clearing of some sort. Dry dirt roads connected a series of huts, the grass between cut down evenly. The closest to them was shaded by a tree, at the base of which leaned a body.

Another look over her surroundings and she was next to the body, a middle-edge woman. The bark of the tree she rested against was covered in blood.

Jayden crouched and pulled away at her blouse. Her throat was nearly ripped out. “An aggressive eater,” he said. “Or hungry… very hungry.”

Kaithlyn placed a hand on top of her head and focused. She wasn’t nearly as good at detecting the time of death as she was tracking, but she had a general estimate. “Today.”

“If the vampire who did this and Galen are on the same island, then he took care of him.” He got up. “But what would that selfish creature do in a place like this? Vervain bushes, traps, no steady source of blood. This is no vampire’s land.”

 _Why are you telling me all this? You think I didn’t notice?_ she thought. They decided to split up and investigate. They were searching for survivors or any clue as to who they were dealing with.

 _We’re not going to find anything_ , she thought as she entered a hut and found a body sprawled on the floor, half neck missing. He clutched a pendant in his hand. She took it and felt a wave of power. _Witches, huh?_

On a table by the window, a thick book grabbed her attention. She skimmed through it, taking note of the use of Latin and the odd drawings. A grimoire. 

The grimoire she took as evidence and the pendant she put in her coat pocket. After all, it was time to return to their meeting place by the first corpse.

“This isn’t a normal vampire attack,” she said and handed him the book. “To keep the grimoire out in the open… I don’t think he was the only witch here.”

“I saw a few gardens and they didn’t look like they were for food.” He put the grimoire in his backpack. “Kaithlyn,” he started, voice much deeper. “I didn’t find a vampire corpse-“ As if answering his unsaid question, she shook her head. 

“To think a vampire pulled all this off without dying,” she said.

“They're old, very experienced to massacre over a dozen witches in such a gruesome manner…” he said, trailing off.

“Or there was more than one.” She looked around one last time. These guessing games were giving her a headache. “Come on.”

Jayden was still crouched down, eyeing the woman. “We should alert the council…”

 _God, how much more do you want to stall this?_ she thought and rolled her eyes. “My role here is to help you locate Galen. That’s what I came here to do, not your side mission. When we’re done, you can do whatever you want.”

Kaithlyn walked to the direction of her inner compass and he had no choice but to follow her, jogging until he caught up.

When she felt him close, she said, “Vampire hunting isn’t my specialty, is it?” And after that, he kept quiet.

They maintained a steady pace until they reached a small canal, which was dried up. On the other side, there was a body tied with rope and propped against a rock. _Galen!_

They traversed it quickly as it wasn’t a steep slope. Jayden got a first aid kit from his backpack while she cut the rope with a navy knife which she pulled out from her boots.

She snatched the kit from his hands and said, “Tell the council.” 

Galen was unconscious, but still breathing. He had a gash in the side of his neck from which he was bleeding, blood seeping out with rhythm. An arterial wound. 

She grabbed a gauze pad from the kit and applied pressure on the wound. Red stained white. One eye at his chest and another at the kit, she was searching for _those_ bandages. She tossed the other things aside until she found them inside a little box.

The top ripped open, she grabbed one and put it above the gash and another one below. Then the magic happened. They glowed a yellow light for a few moments and disappeared. She lifted the pad from his neck. The wound had healed.

This was a first aid kit for a hunter, after all.

Kaithlyn checked him over from head to toe and front to back to look for other open wounds, but he was fine save for a few bruises and scratches.

“Medical help is on the way,” he said, phone still in hand. He crouched next to them. “Is he alright?”

His eyebrows were furrowed and blonde hair tousled as if he ran his hands through it one too many times. She nodded. “He's unconscious, but vitals are good. Could be from the bloodloss.”

He brushed away some dirt off Galen’s shoulder. “To think he’d end up like this…”

She blew out a long breath and elbowed him away so she could place both hands on his shoulders. Closing her eyes, she connected to his spirit and searched for a potential match to the vampire who attacked the witches.

“Nothing,” she said, eyes open. “The ones who did this to him aren’t here anymore.”

“You think who killed the witches-“

“-met with Galen? Obviously.” She rose to her feet. “To have both of them on the island at the same time… What are the chances they’d miss each other?”

Kaithlyn scouted the surroundings one more time. For one moment, it dawned on her how far away she was from home, from the people she knew, from those she loved. She scoffed. _How ironic life can be, throwing me into the wilderness to rub it in; I can’t be close to the people I love…_

She had taken this mission for the council only and in the light of her New Year’s resolution, she had become their scapegoat. A mission like this she couldn’t just deny. And now when the other connection she felt was still there, how could she walk away without getting the whole truth? When Galen would wake up and spew excuses, she’d be the one to tell the council the real version of events.

Jayden was up now, an arm around the waist of the hunter and the other holding his arm around his neck. “Coast clear?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said. He thought she was looking out for enemies or traps. “You can go now.”

“What?” His posture stiffened, jaw tight.

She turned away from him. Did he want her to repeat herself? “My job's over. I found Galen.”

“But where are you going? This place is dangerous…”

Tapping a foot to the ground, she said, “Oh, you’re worried about _me_?” He denied. “Follow the same path we took to get here, traps are disarmed.”

Jayden didn’t say anything and she eventually heard the sound of feet dragging across the ground, traversing through the shallow canal until they stopped.

Eyes stared down her figure. She ran her hands through her straight long brown hair and stuck them in her coat pockets. Did he really think she’d start on the direction she wanted to go in while he was still here watching her?

Eventually, he gave up and footsteps started again until they were too far away for her to hear. One look over her shoulder to make sure he was gone and she was sprinting.

Without that moron slowing her down, things were getting interesting. The closer she got to her new destination, the more traps she had to dodge.

_What the hell is on this island that needs so much protection?_

At the end of her journey, her feet touched down in the middle of a field filled with stones, ground dry and barren. Woods and a rocky formation framed the clearing she was in.

She kicked a pebble off the ground. All this way for this? There was nothing there, not even blood or the sign of a fight or a cover-up.

_Something life-changing happened to you here, Galen. Why does it look peaceful?_

Pacing around, she checked for any sign again and she found nothing. Her powers never let astray, she was in the right place… Could it be that she wasn’t at the correct height?

Kaithlyn inspected the rocky wall that stretched dozens of meters towards the sky, eyes lingering on a particular shadow. When she got close, she noticed a section jutting out and behind it, a chamber.

A beam of light peaked through a crevice, showing the room off to the best of its abilities and clawing down the hole until it got lost in the darkness.

_You were in too deep. What are you hiding?_

She wrapped the rope attached to the pulley on the ceiling around her wrist to check its resistance. With a sturdy hold on it, she jumped into the abyss.

At the bottom, there was a chamber made of black shiny stone, with several pathways branching off it. Flashlight in one hand and navy knife in the other, she explored the maze with her intuition as a guide.

Time and space became fickle in a way she couldn’t put her finger on. She wasn’t going in circles, at least it didn’t feel like it, but everything looked the same. If it weren’t for the other connection showing her the way, she wouldn’t be able to navigate these caves.

At some point, she escaped the corridors into an open cavern. Her flashlight went over the following things in order: a table made out of stone, blood on the floor beside it, and a backpack against the wall.

_That’s more like it._

The backpack had a crossbow attached to it and rope, first aid kit, guns among other things inside. She rummaged through it trying to understand what happened and why Galen decided to come here. She didn’t get any answers, but she did find something in a hidden pocket. A phone.

She focused her powers to check if it was his and it tingled with his energy. The poor hunter lost his phone, what a pity.

Her eyes twinkled with mischief as she put it in her coat pocket. She would definitely give it back to him… eventually. 

Illuminating the blood, Kaithlyn noticed it was relatively fresh. Could the person it belonged to be dead? She didn’t find any corpse on her way here, but to think someone survived this bloodloss... Healed by supernatural means, probably.

If they survived, if they were out there somewhere, then she could find out the real version of events of what happened in this room, not whatever Galen would say when he woke up.

She crouched and picked up blood on the tips of her fingers. They tingled with high frequency. _Another witch?_

To have the most highly spirited object anyone possessed available made locating easy for her. If the witch didn’t use a spell to cover her tracks, that was.

Her inner compass spun until it landed on a single direction and just like that she had her next target. A place more welcoming, she hoped.

At last, Kaithlyn examined the table in the middle of the cavern. Centering her powers in her hands, she traced the table: edges at first, then the center, inch by inch. Any clue would be useful. It was when one of her hands gripped the edge and another was in the middle that she felt a presence.

Kaithlyn gasped, hunching forward, the sound bouncing off the walls and playing back in echos. It couldn’t be, could it? Questions and answers spiraled in her head, but no matter how she tried to put it, her powers never fail.

The little boy she met in Denver six months ago had been here.

_Jeremy?_

,.,

The silence came when Elena least expected it. She had just told April that Jeremy was dead and the line went dead and everyone froze.

For a moment there was nothing. No one in the house took their breath, no one moved, no one looked around. There was nothing.

Then the storm hit.

Next thing she knew she told Damon to put Jeremy on the couch. Words tumbled out of her mouth, quickly and without stop. It wasn’t that she wasn’t aware of what she was saying, it was that the moment they were out a new memory pushed her to say something else.

The cupboards, the drops of alcohol, the broken bottle, the slammed picture-frame — those she heard very well, the reverb still shaking her heart.

“There's nothing left for me anymore-”

Her body collapsed on the floor and nothing they were trying made strength return to her legs, because it didn’t stop the pain, nothing could stop the pain-

“I want you to let me help you…”

She didn’t believe it to be possible until it happened. With him as guidance, she reached out into the depths of her psyche, flipped the switch, and then there was light.

She could see everything around her as if she opened her eyes for the first time. And she looked, she looked at the house and she looked at Damon. And he was just there looking at her with those eyes, asking for everything to be alright.

Elena got up and she felt it, the allure of two paths: leave the house or grab the match. As she eyed Damon who was still at her feet, she knew exactly what to do.

She lit it.

“Wait,” Stefan said. “What if, after all this is over, you want to come home?”

And she felt a tug from Damon too, urging her to blow the flame off.

For the first time since she knew them, since she turned, she could say, “This is what I want” and just let it fall on the floor, fire catching at her feet.

Elena was the first one to go. Damon followed, walking next to her. Stefan was behind them, paused on the alleyway to look at the flames.

“We need to go,” she said and finally, they all walked away from the house, orange hues reflecting on their bodies until they got too far away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why you should read The Rising:  
> \- because I'm having Elena without her humanity and it's not annoying, it's interesting. I promise to deliver on character conflict and a different view of her relationship with the brothers.  
> \- because DE will get explored the way it should, keeping their elements from the first seasons.  
> \- because DE won't be endgame  
> \- because KC has a specific reason for coming to be and it's an angsty one ;)  
> \- because I didn't forget about Jeremy and his potential  
> \- because Bonnie has a storyline that involves her going after what she wants. Bonnie will be happy.  
> \- because TRAVELERS DON'T EXIST, enough said. (Stefan and Silas aren't related)  
> \- if you wanna see Damon happy with a woman that fits him  
> \- if you wanna remember what it's like to fear a villain and to have a villain with a motive on the show  
> \- if you want to find out new exciting things about the world of TVD
> 
> And if all that sounds exciting, help me out with a review. It really does make a difference. :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arc one: From the island

.

chapter 2: it's not just Jeremy

.

It had been less than 48 hours and Stefan already felt like he couldn’t do it anymore.

Elena danced around the house, played with makeup, browsed Instagram. She acted like a normal girl, but it wasn’t real, none of it was real. It wasn’t better than grief.

Last night, he caved in and talked to her in her room at their mansion. She was laying on the bed, scrolling through her phone.

“Elena,” he said and sat down near her. “How are you?”

“I'm fine, thank you, I feel much better,” she replied, not looking up.

He shook his head. “It’s been only one night… this isn’t normal.”

“Nothing's normal in my life, Stefan,” she said. “And it’s true, I’m not lying.” She dropped the phone and eyed him. “What else do you want me to do?”

The room was quiet.

“I know it wasn’t your choice to be a vampire, Elena, but-”

“It wasn’t my choice to be a doppelganger.”

“-you can still live out a human life if you try to.” 

His eyes searched hers for a spark, something, anything, but she was just as detached as in the moment she had let go of that match. How much lower would she sink?

“Thank you, Stefan,” she said, voice raspy. “For respecting my choice that night.” Her words stabbed him in the heart. “I know it might look as if you cared more about Matt than me, but I know how much it meant to me.”

His eyes pressed shut. “You know I’m sorry-“ She let out a puff. “-for not getting to you in time after I pulled Matt out. I’m sorry-”

“It's been almost five months, Stefan. I’ve accepted it.”

“That's a lie.” She started to say something but he continued to talk. “Up until two days ago you wanted the cure, you wanted to be human.”

Elena shrugged. “Now that the cure’s gone, I guess I’ve accepted it.”

He drew a hand across his face. “Elena, you can’t be happy,” he said and the mantra in his head automatically continued <<as a vampire>>. “…like this.”

She pursed her lips. “I can’t be happy as a vampire?”

“Without your humanity, I meant,” he said and she rolled her eyes. Stefan grabbed her left hand in his, both palms covering up the lapis lazuli ring. “Elena, please, turn your humanity back on.” She yanked her hand from his and got up. “I'll be right here, I’ll help you through it, we’ll get through it together.”

She walked to the door with strong steps.

“Doesn't he deserve it?” he asked and she halted, hand on the handle. Still sitting, he looked at her over his shoulder. “Doesn't your brother deserve to be mourned?”

Elena sighed. 

“Take a moment and grieve for him with the town-“

She spun on her heel. “The town doesn’t care, Stefan, they never did!” She took a deep breath and composed herself. “I'm going to get a blood bag from the cellar. Don’t be here when I come back.”

He respected her wishes. That night he didn’t pry anymore, but she was still on his mind, her image tossing and turning in his mind as he imagined her going further down this road towards the darkness. When this was all over, how would she recover?

 _This thing never lasts_ , he thought. It might look like it, but the off switch was always a temporary fix. He learned this on his own skin. 

Everything Elena was at her core, the good, compassionate girl with morals, didn’t change when she turned. If she hurt someone like he did, she would never forgive herself, she’d be devasted. He had to prevent it, whatever it took.

Which was why, in the late hours of the night, when Elena was sound asleep, he snuck into her room. He took a good look at her… how peaceful she looked—regular breaths, parted lips, relaxed eyelids.

The left hand hung on top of her belly, covers tossed to the side.

He gulped and grabbed it gently, swiping her ring —the ring he put there on the first day— off her finger. It looked so small in his palm, so fragile… But it had to be done. In order for Elena to have light, he needed to take it away from her.

For the few seconds it took him to get the deed done, Elena didn’t make a sound. Perhaps a part of her was still accustomed to his presence even though their relationship was far behind.

The outburst was much quieter than he expected. This morning she had walked into the living room as he was putting on his shoes. She strayed away from the light, stopping into place and crossing her arms over her chest.

“Give me my ring.”

Stefan tied his shoelace. Finally, he said, “No,” grabbed his backpack, and went past her for the door.

“Stefan-“ she said, voice more gentle now.

“I have to get to class.”

“I'll show you,” she said. “I'll show you you’re wrong.”

When he opened the door, a beam of light entered the house. Her head was shaking but her eyes were closed as she stepped away.

It was the last time he saw her for the day. It had been a few hours that he was back from school now and she didn’t make an attempt at anything, overall just avoiding him.

Stefan poured himself a glass and watched the fireplace even though it wasn’t lit.

“Oof, brother, drinking on a Monday… how will you graduate at this rate?”

Stefan ignored him, taking another gulp. How could he be this nonchalant? He poured himself a drink and walked around with a pep in his step to nudge him with his foot.

Damon had his glass stretched in front of him. He sent him a piercing look which was enough to make him shrug and sit down opposite to him.

“I don’t get the doom and gloom, Elena’s happy-”

“She doesn’t feel _anything_. She's **not** happy.“

“Really? Because she seems to be enjoying herself around the house. Did you know we played pool yesterday?” he said and smirked.

He let out a harsh breath. “The day-” He gripped the glass tighter. “The day after her brother died, you take her to play pool?”

“We never use it, it was getting dusty,” he said and took a sip. “Everyone grieves differently.”

Stefan nodded and broke out into a dry laugh. “Did you really pull that on me? She’s _not_ mourning. And she should-“

Damon gave him a look. “Why?”

He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again. How could he be so ignorant? Did he even know Elena a bit? He breathed in and out and said, “From now on and until the rest of eternity, she’ll remember playing pool while her brother is at the morgue. She’ll remember enjoying it. She’ll remember all of her choices —our choices— that led to this. And all of this because of you-”

“Because of me,” he repeated with a nagging voice.

Stefan stood up so quickly, some of the liquid in his glass spilled. “I trusted you-! _You did this, this is your fault!_ “

His eyes grew darker when that last line hit, but to Stefan’s surprise, he didn’t snap back at him. Voice calm, he said, ”You told me to help her, I-”

“Yes, Damon, help her. Tell her to calm down, to get some air, to hold on-” The man before him looked even more disgusting than ever. So many things he put him through and now this. _It never stops_ , he thought. “You were supposed to use the _sire bond_ to contr-“

Damon sprung to his feet. “Don’t.” They stood toe to toe, neither of them backing down. “Don’t talk about trust.” His jaw tightened. “Not to me.”

He rolled his eyes.

“You said you’ll always protect Elena. But it was a lie. You lied. You let her die under the bridge-”

“I respected her choice, Damon. Not forced her to act a certain way, feel a certain way-”

Damon put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Let me make it clear: I know what I’m doing,” he said and squeezed harder. “ _I know what I’m doing._ ”

He had so many things to say to that, but for a moment he was stunned. It was enough for Damon to let go and leave the living room.

Stefan threw back the rest of his glass, then filled it back up. As he stayed drinking that afternoon, it wasn’t Elena who was on his mind, but her little brother, the teenage boy who had all his life in front of him until they got involved.

With Elena being the way she was now and Damon following her close behind, it seemed like he was the only one who cared about him anymore.

,.,

Elena’s throat burned for release by anything but the same old blood bag, which had just as much flavor as a ready meal from the grocery store. No heat, no personality, no spark.

 _No enjoyment_.

Here she laid because in due time someone would have to pass by this road and selflessly offer her help. Even better, it was midnight. She could take her time.

Rumbling engine, white beams, and ground vibrating underneath her spine. They were finally here and they were coming in fast.

Body just as stilted, she accepted her future. Would they run her over, would they ditch her once they realize, or would they stop? Whatever it’d be, she wanted it now.

The tire rubber screech scratched the insides of her ear until the car was so close to her, the heat from its front brushed against her face. 

“Miss, are you okay, are you hurt?” she asked.

She had dark hair and a feminine look, flower dress and all. And she was dumb, it seemed, asking her two closed questions that answered with the same word meant opposite things.

“Turn off the car,” was all Elena said, words which were mirrored on the girl’s lips.

When the hum of the car was gone and the night was free, she went to her and said, “Don't fight me. Don’t yell.”

Elena pushed away her dark curls and traced the outline of a pulsing vein on her neck. Steady strong beats turned quick. No need to delay it more, especially since she was being watched.

She dug deep into her neck, warm sweet blood flooding her mouth. It didn’t satisfy her need, each drop making her crave more.

The girl grabbed onto her arm while begging words in a soft voice. No cursing, no pitying, no threatening, she was just as sweet as her blood.

Elena pulled away and touched the back of her hand to the girl's rosy cheeks. “Are you enjoying the show?”

“A bit out of character, but yes,” Damon said over her shoulder.

She turned to him, one arm supporting the girl. “What, you’re denying the nature of vampirism now?”

“No, I’m denying the nature of you.” 

Arms crossed over his chest, he was looking only at her.

“Interesting… you deny it, but you didn’t do anything to stop me.” She wiped the corners of her mouth. “You're hungry.”

“I had dinner already and you know what they say about snacking at night, it goes straight to your hips.”

“Vampires don’t gain weight,” she said, then looked at the girl. “Offer yourself to him.”

The girl left Elena’s side and her dress swayed in the wind as she took the few steps to be in front of Damon. She pushed her hair back, revealing the gash from the bite.

“From the vein,” she said. “ _Fresh_." 

Damon held her eyes for a moment, then uncrossed his arms, grabbed the girl’s shoulder, and dug into her neck. His head moved as he was taking more and more and underneath the noises from the girl, there was an undeniable moan.

Elena flashed behind the girl, pulled back her hair, and sank her teeth into the other side of her neck. She was making much more noise now, even whimpering, but she didn’t want to pull away as long as he was there.

When they stopped, Damon held the girl’s hands —one of which had a colorful braided bracelet— as she fell, passing out at their feet. The only barrier between them was gone, now just the two of them face to face.

Their lips clashed against each other. Saliva, blood, and passion. Her hands cupped his face, while his tugged at the loops of her jeans to bring her closer to him.

In a flash, she was against the hood of the car. Kiss after breath after kiss. She grabbed his shoulder as he bit her bottom lip and pulled only to release it at the sound of a moan.

When he placed bloody kisses to her neck, she asked, "Are you going to tell Stefan?”

A curt “no" was what he gave her and she was smiled. This was what she came here for. 

,.,

The sole of the sandals clapped against her feet as she traversed the couloir of the hotel in hurried steps. Damn it, she was way behind her schedule, having woken up at 12:30 instead of much earlier like she planned.

When she walked past the reception desk, a voice perked up, “Good afternoon.”

Yes, afternoon it was, 2 PM. She should have continued on her way, but she couldn’t let this comment go unchecked. “What's the point of making requests to wake up at a certain hour if you’re just going to ignore them?”

The woman blinked rapidly. “Miss. Downright… No one-… last night no one asked me to wake them up the next day.” Her voice was defensive but respectable. She was the type of employee to take her job seriously: hair bunched up in an elegant bun, white collar shirt perfectly straight, black blazer, and modest makeup. The face of the hotel.

“Do I look like I don’t know what I’m talking about?” she snapped with a firm voice that would have fit her appearance every time but today. She was dressed in a graphic T-shirt, ripped jean shorts —both of which were the only ones she owned— and strappy sandals. Her dark brown hair was wavy and pulled to one side, pinned steady with two colorful clips.

She let the silence hang between them, before breaking it with a hoarse voice. “If you want to keep lying, that’s fine, but when I won’t be coming back to this hotel tonight, don’t wonder why.” It was when she saw her eyes get glassy that she turned away.

She didn’t get too far before she heard the receptionist speak with a softer, but shaky voice. “I'm sorry.” This made her stop and listen. “I didn’t want to lie, I didn’t intend to forget. It’s just that-” She sniffed and whimpered. 

Kaithlyn turned around and walked back to the desk. 

“My friend, she came by to visit me last night, but she-” Her eyes furrowed together and she hugged herself. “She didn’t make it. The Sheriff told me-… The Sheriff told me she was found on the road just outside town, badly injured.” She was trembling now, curls freed up from the bun moving in perfect sync with her head.

 _This doesn’t sound good_ , she thought and gave a reassuring smile. There was more to this story she wanted to hear.

The woman nodded and wiped her tears with her palm. It was then that the sleeve of her shirt slid down and she could see she wore a bracelet as well. It was colorful and braided, made out of some type of string. This wasn’t uniform, this was personal.

“It was an animal attack and she said it was a miracle she was even alive. She lost a lot of blood and she was supposed to get a transfusion…” she said and blew her nose.

Her intuition was right. She leaned on her elbows against the desktop and asked in a low voice, "Animal attack? Do they know what kind of animal?”

The woman backed away in her chair, eyes pointed at the floor but the mind clearly somewhere else. Eyes still empty, she gave a short head shake.

Kaithlyn had seen this many times before. A relative, friend, lover found the days after going out alone at night, with wounds that had no explanation. _That a regular person would be aware of_. In the end, it always came back to an animal attack, an answer just for the sake of having one so they could move on. For the rest of their life, they’d believe a lie, cursing the beast that took them away when the truth was the monster looked 100% human.

This was a mere name on a list that didn’t seem to end. Her nails dug into her palm as images of their _protectors_ flashed into her mind.

 _As much as they brag about it, vampire hunters don’t do shit_.

“Her blood type is O-. Mine’s different and none of the people I know have it,“ she said. “The hospital doesn’t have any for her and neither do the ones in the surrounding area.” She put her palms together. “Is yours O-? Please-“

“No,” she replied dryly.

The change in her tone woke her up and she mumbled apologizes under her breath as she composed herself.

“The animal attacks… do they occur often? Since when…?” she asked.

She gave a small smile. “Mystic Falls used to be a quiet happy town. It was September 2009 when it started. For 15 months it was hell. Got worse as time went on… I prayed, every Sunday for my family and friends.” A spark light up in her eyes and she reached for her neck, where she probably used to wear a cross necklace outside work. “The Lord answered. The last three months have been more like before…” She gave a curt shake. “Some say the animal reproduced and it needed food for the off-springs… “

They were on the right track, but not in the way they were thinking. A rise in this type of death in her world meant new vampires: thirsty, inexperienced, uncontrollable vampires. No one caught them, yet. They had to have compelled the people in town. Or could it be they had help for a cover-up?

“I'm afraid,” she said, then left the word hanging in the air. “That it’s starting again…”

Before she left, she said, “I’m sorry for your friend. Hope she gets well soon. See you tonight.” The receptionist light up as she realized what it meant, saying goodbye and wishing her well.

When Kaithlyn was finally out of the hotel, she inhaled, taking in the shiny weather. Perfect for vising a friend. 

On the way, her mind was spinning with thoughts. Hospitals could be low on a certain type of blood, but the surrounding hospitals as well? What about the other blood types? This situation looked like textbook vampirism: blood missing, animal attacks, secluded town. Why didn’t any vampire hunter know about this again? 

_Of course, brag and brag, but don’t walk the walk._ It wasn’t her business to notify anyone and she wasn’t in Mystic Falls for any of this. But from the way things transpired on the island, it was only a matter of time until they came here.

,.,

Kaithlyn made it back to Jayden just as he was pushing the boat off the beach. They send two doctors only, which she didn’t recognize, but they had fixed Galen up for the better part. Still unconscious and wrapped in a blanket, it looked like he’d still have some recovery to do.

Flicking her curly black hair out of her face, one said, “Where were you?”

“Scouting,” she replied, ending the conversation.

They didn’t know what she did, where she was, because not only wouldn’t they dare to do a locator spell to get that info, but she left nothing behind for them to do it with.

They were silent on their way back, arriving in Vermont in the early hours of the next day. Galen was rushed to the intensive care ward, while she was given a key by the council to spend the night there. They had odd doorknobs here, the type to rotate in order to open the door. Needless to say, she didn’t sleep well that night.

There was no Sunday when it came to the council, so she got to work on her report, filling out the basic information and recounting the events from when that boat hit the shore. 

When she was done, Kaithlyn passed by Galen’s hospital room. He was unconscious still and hooked up to several beeping machines, but more importantly, Jayden was there.

“Did you write the report?” she asked.

He nodded.

“I just finished mine and wanted to check up on him,” she said in a sweet voice. “I'm on my way to drop mine off, I can get yours too if you want.”

Jayden didn’t answer, just shook his head as he dug into a pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He handed it to her and she grabbed it, but he wouldn’t let go. 

“We're on the same team, remember?” he asked and let go only after she nodded.

Kaithlyn left them alone, walking around the corridors while reading up on what he wrote. Much to her pleasure, he didn’t mention she strayed off after they found him. _Good_.

The mission was written up for Jayden as the hunter, while she was appointed as the tracker. The protocol said he would be the one to hand them over, but they could make an exception for her as she was a council member while he was not.

They weren’t even paying her. As a new member, she was supposed to do them favors until she established herself, moved up the ranks. Of course they’d take this opportunity to make her run around the whole country, from Denver all the way to Vermont and to Nova Scotia. To be fair, her situation was a bit different from other recruits… 

After dropping the reports off, she spent the rest of the day in her room thinking about Jeremy mostly and what she had found in the cave.

Kaithlyn was taken out of it by a knock on the door, telling her to go to a certain office. After sunset, on a Sunday.

She was invited in and asked to take a seat in front of the desk by a dark-skinned woman with braided hair. Her tattoo snaked up her right arm all the way to her shoulder, the sleeve of her T-shirt rolled up.

“I read the reports. A situation of this caliber couldn’t wait,” she said, propping her elbows. “Galen means so much to us.”

 _So much that he spends his time as far away as possible_.

She read the plaque on her desk. Imani Williams.

“He’s a good hunter.”

“We could talk all day about the hunters from Vermont. I know you’re from Denver,” Imani said, but she shrugged. “You’re new in the council… almost three months.” She clicked her tongue. “But you’ve been with us for five years already.”

Kaithlyn gave a girly smile. “Some of us are late bloomers,” she said with a happy voice. Oh, how much she loved when vampire hunters snooped into her past!

“I'm glad you came to your senses,” she said, picking up a dossier.

She curled her toes inside her heels, but gave a curt nod. As if anyone could call what made her join at last “coming to your senses”…

“Your work is incredible… You tracked Galen well.” She pulled two pieces of paper from the dossier, their reports. “But it’s not over… The place you found him, it’s not just any island…” She drifted off, analyzed her reaction —a mere spark of curiosity—, then shook her head. “Of course you don’t know, you’ve just joined.”

Kaithlyn gave in and asked sheepishly, “Does Galen know?”

“He’s been in the council for longer, he does,” she said and flipped over to Jayden’s report. “Which is why I’m afraid of… his intentions.”

Nothing in that incriminated her, what was she going to bring up?

“For the sake of the mission, I’ll tell you. On that island, there’s a man buried down into a cave.” She underlined a passage on the report. “The council has a group of witches there to watch over it, to make sure it stays that way.”

Oh. The village they found, but… “He's no ordinary man, is he?”

Lips pressed together, she shook her head. “No. He’s someone very dangerous… an immortal being that cannot die. Not a vampire, older than the Originals.” She got up and went to the window behind her desk, looking out. “His desiccated body was put in those caves a long time ago by the council. The Caves of Confusion. No one can traverse them and get to his chamber without the map in the completed vampire hunter tattoo.”

Now that nobody watched her, Kaithlyn gulped. This was the place she found, but there was no one in the chamber. And the dead witches…The event that made her link there had to be Galen rising this creature. 

_Damn you, Irish prick._

The red ink underneath “witch massacre” jumped into her eyes. “You think he’s awake now?”

Her head bobbed. “Silas is his name. And there’s one more thing… buried with him. A vial of blood. The cure to vampirism.”

Air escaped her lips as she heard that. To think a cure for vampirism existed and the council had it all this time hidden somewhere only a few could get it. Why was Galen there and more importantly, why was Jeremy?

“His mark isn’t complete. He couldn’t have got there… alone.” Imani turned and still standing, eyed her down. “Do you know if he knew any hunter whose mark is completed?”

They got her connection with him from his mission reports, the ones they did together. The council could get a psychic to read his mind and get all this info when he woke up. To make them resort to a classic investigation, the situation had to be urgent.

“No, we weren’t that close. Jayden knows him better.”

“But you know him for longer. He told us he didn’t think Galen was close to any other vampire hunter. The solo hunter type,” she said and pointed at the underlined part. “Did you feel anything when you touched the woman beside the time of death?”

She shook her head.

“As expected, Silas’s a psychic. He’d be able to cover his trail.” One last time she leaned against the desk and eyed her as she asked, “Did you find anything else on the island?”

Kaithlyn’s reply was stern. “No.”

Imani mumbled, “We’ll have to wait for Galen and what the research mission finds on the island…” She tossed the papers back into the dossier. “You can go.”

She got up with steady feet and when she got to the door, she looked over her shoulder and said, “I'm leaving tomorrow, Mrs. Williams.” The woman perked up. “I have to work on my presentation for the council meeting in June…”

“Right… it’s shaping up to be an _interesting_ year. I can’t wait to hear what you’ll come up with.” She smiled and by the look in her eye, she could tell she was remembering something. “Oh, and it’s in Denver. Your first time and it’s in your home town. No pressure.”

Kaithlyn giggled and nodded at her. “Just my luck, but I’ll make it work. Goodnight.” To these people only the council mattered. 

She went back to her room and mulled over the information behind closed doors. They already had a team sent out to the island to investigate the bodies and look for any trace of Silas. They couldn’t have got a hunter with a completed mark to go there already, could they? 

No, they asked her for information… They were waiting to get one of them and after that, they’d get to the chamber, they’d find what she did. They’d find Galen’s backpack, witch blood, and Jeremy.

How in the world did the teenage human boy manage to get there? Did the witch force him? Did Galen’s accomplice? How did they even know him?

Her second night in Vermont was more restless than the first one. 

The next day, after she packed, she did her rounds, coming by Imani’s office to say “hello” and ask “how the situation was going”, ending it all in a compliment before saying “goodbye”. Imani was beyond herself. Oh, how much vampire hunters loved getting their ass kissed!

Kaithlyn was such in a rush to wrap it up and go that it cut her appetite short. She hadn’t eaten anything that morning, but it didn’t matter: she was finally at the wheel of her car, ready to go.

Someone tapped on the window on the passenger's side. It was Jayden and he had two zip-lock bags with sandwiches with him. She let him open the door and get inside.

“Hey, leaving without saying goodbye?” he asked with a smirk on his face. “Let's have some brunch.”

Kaithlyn didn’t get it until the last part, after which she noticed him pull out a tiny bottle of perfume from a pocket. She smiled and snatched one of the bags. ”I’m famished!”

Two puffs and the smell of sage filled the car. They couldn’t have someone listening in or reading their lips.

He bit into his sandwich and said, “Something's going on. The two women they sent for us are the top two healers here.” He bit again, moving the sandwich in and out the front of his lips. “They don’t come on the field, ever.”

She was munching as well. “When we left, they didn’t act with this urgency. After you called, told them where we were, it changed…”

“There's something on that island.” He grinned and twirled some of her hair around his finger. 

“I’ll tell you what I can,” she said, moving her sandwich around and giving a laugh. “Galen did a very illegal thing and they won’t stop until they find out everything that happened on the island and why he was there.”

He bit his lip as he looked at her chest. “It's really bad then.”

She licked her lips back. “They’ll want to know what he did in the weeks leading up to it… Hide it and stall them as much as you can, until he wakes up and you have a plan.”

He nodded and reached out to hug her, his lips hanging under her ear, hidden by her hair. “I won’t snitch on you. And I’ll keep you updated if anything happens.”

Jayden let go and exited the car, hanging out at the open door. Good, now they could be heard. She blew him a kiss and waved.

“Drive safe, beautiful,” he said before closing the door.

When she was a way’s away, she let out a long sigh. What a show they put on! Two lovers saying goodbye in private. At least she got an ally out of it, an informant to give her a head’s up for when the council acted. She could scrub herself clean when she got to her destination.

Kaithlyn focused on Jeremy’s presence and the one she picked up from the witch blood. Two inner compasses appeared, both their needles pointing in the same direction for the majority of her trip, parting only as she passed the welcome sign to the town of Mystic Falls.

Jeremy’s hometown.

,., 

Mystic Falls was a small town.

It was a short ride from the hotel on the outskirts to Jeremy’s address. That info she got in a simpler way: he noted it in her phone himself when he invited her to visit him.

The sky was a clear blue with puffy clouds, on the road of his house. How would he react to seeing her? It had been five months already. They didn’t keep in contact all that much, it was true, but the type of connection they had wasn’t one that could be easily forgotten.

At least not for her.

He should have just got back from school. He was probably hungry. She could take him out for lunch, maybe?

A slow spring breeze blew the air, bringing with it black dust and sticking it to her windscreen. How long would it take to get the truth out of him? She had to know what he did on that island so she could protect him from the council.

Because to her, he meant more than them.

Kaithlyn parked in front of the now discovered source of the dust, or ashes, more precisely. It was a one-story house, charred and devastated on the inside, the smell of smoke still pungent. She checked again, but she was at the right place.

Her intuition told her something was wrong.

Feet moved on their own accord, carrying her across the street to a neighboring house. Her hand knocked, not too hard, not too quick— normal as if she came to ask for a cup of sugar.

An old woman opened up. She gave her a long look, then put on the glasses which were hung along her neck.

“I'm sorry for disturbing you, Mrs,” she said and pointed over her shoulder even before asking. “Do you know where the family living there moved?” The wind felt colder against her naked legs. “The Gilberts?”

She took her glasses off and sighed. “I don’t know where she lives now, but it must be hard for her. Poor girl…”

Her brows furrowed. _Was she confusing people? Crazy old lady!_

“No, that’s not…” Her voice drifted off but picked up more poignant. ”I’m looking for Jeremy Gilbert. Do you know where I can find him?”

She was shaking her head, slowly and with sad eyes. Why was she shaking her head? Who was this woman and why was she shaking her head at her like that?!

“He died in a house fire this weekend. The only Gilbert alive now is his sister, Elena.”

Silence.

It was quiet and nothing moved, outside and inside her mind. For a moment they were a snapshot of life, a framed picture where all the words were implied. To think it was the second time in the last six months this happened to her…

_Did she just say that? No, no, she’s joking. She’s celebrating April fools five days earlier! Jeremy cannot be dead!_

Something gripped her heart and squeezed it tighter and tighter with the second. Features still, she whispered with a voice that was not her own, “Dead?”

The woman lowered her head in response.

Kaithlyn turned around and walked away, towards the car, towards _the house_. There was nobody around on the street and that damned house was empty! 

She slammed the door of the car and gripped the steering wheel. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the woman’s door was shut again. She was truly alone.

A whimper.

Which broke into a heaving, which broke into tears.

How could this happen to him out of all people? To the one person she had been so far away from? It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t right but it was real. 

Jeremy was dead.

And she cried for him and for herself, for what she lost by losing him. Memories hit her as she sobbed, head against the steering wheel so nobody could see her face.

What a cruel way the universe chose to prove that everything she was doing didn’t change the past.

,.,

She failed at the one thing she was supposed to do.

The town was counting on her, her friends were counting on her, she was counting on herself. And she failed everyone when she was two steps away from getting it all.

When it mattered the most, her powers failed. She had the chance to put an end to everything that was happening in Mystic Falls for the past year and instead things reached the worst conclusion.

Silas was raised because of her, the cure was gone because of her, _Jeremy_ was dead because of her.

If she had raised her hand and slammed Katherine against a wall, none of this would have happened. But she couldn’t. 

Her powers had always belonged to everyone but herself: nature, fear, her family, the spirits… And now the keeper was Silas, who watched over her while she mulled everything over.

“It doesn’t have to be this way, Bonnie,” he said. 

This time he was leaning against her drawer, while she rested at the edge of her bed. It was the third night in the row that she woke up by not noise or light, just thoughts.

Tonight was different. There was light and warmth… a full-blown fire through her covers, which blew off with a swift move of her hand. 

It hurt and she couldn’t breathe, coughing up when she tried to take in air. Was this what it was like to burn alive? How did Jeremy’s body look now…?

“You did this,” he said and kicked out the burnt covers at his feet. 

Yes, difficulty with a candle turned into this under his tutelage.

“You can still fix this, Bonnie.”

She shook her head.

“Drop the veil and you’ll get him back…”

“…along with every monster who died.”

“You can kill them again. Look at you, Bonnie, look at how far you’ve come, how strong you are. Listen to me,” he said and she raised her eyes. “You're strong enough to protect everyone.”

Tears fell.

“What a pity he died so young…”

Her heart ached again and she whimpered. Jeremy was innocent. He would want to live, that much she knew.

She looked at the covers again. Silas didn’t have powers, he needed her. If she controlled her magic, she could drop the veil for just enough time to get Jeremy out. 

Miracles had happened to her before when she begged for his life. This time she didn’t have anyone to beg to, she’d have to do it all herself.

She drifted off to the words “the final massacre”.

The next day Caroline came to her house after school. She was complaining about Elena while she cleaned around her room. Bonnie didn’t pay attention, hearing only that it would happen tonight.

Caroline gasped as she picked the burned blanket from underneath her bed. She turned to Silas for an explanation. “Shane, what is this?”

“Bonnie is losing control of her powers-“

“And you can’t help her? You taught her!”

“She needs help from witches, this is beyond me…”

They paused and Caroline came over to hug her.

“She should call her mother…”

Bonnie closed her eyes as Caroline rubbed soothing circles on her back.

“I think you should do it… If this goes on, you could get hurt,” she said. “I can talk-“

“No,” she whispered. 

Maybe it was a result of her sweet voice or her warm arms, but for a moment Bonnie felt like she could do it. She grabbed her phone and called her before she lost it.

“Hey, Bonnie?”

What a strange voice Abby had.

She didn’t speak at first, she had nothing planned, she didn’t think about it, she just moved.

“Hello?” she asked again.

When she felt she was a second away from her hanging up, she said in a whimper, “Last night I set the bed on fire…”

The rest was easier. She told her what happened with her magic from losing it while trying to save Elena to learning expression and now losing control over it.

“I'll send help,” was all she said before she hung up.

Late that night when she was alone again, she got the message. 

_12 of my friends will come. Witches. They know what to do._

The three dots were still wiggling while she read it. Then she got the rest.

_Tomorrow evening._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Writing "Kaithlyn giggled" hurt me as much as it hurt reading it. Haha. I didn't plan for this chapter to be this Kaithlyn heavy, but as I was writing her first scene it followed naturally that I'd show what happened when they got back from the island. The next chapter has more of the TVD cast.
> 
> I'd like feedback on Kaithlyn. How do you feel about her so far? And since this is TVD, I have to ask if you ship her with anyone already.
> 
> If you liked it and want the story to continue, show me by commenting (good, bad, constructive criticism, an emoji, etc) or leaving a kudos/bookmark/follow. Thank you.
> 
> If you have suggestions, I'm all ears. It could be a character you want to see more of, a ship, etc.


	3. Chapter 3

.

chapter 3: the clash

.

Something snapped inside of her.

The little time in her car was all she allowed herself. Then she urged herself to stop crying, to stop thinking, to stop remembering. As of now, she had a new priority— more important than protecting Jeremy, more important than whatever the council would ask her to do next, more important than her safety.

Kaithlyn had to know the truth. Unlike the rest who could settle on a vague explanation, she could recognize the supernatural at hand. And whatever happened with Jeremy with the fire reeked of a cover-up.

Just like that, she turned from a whipping girl to a woman on the hunt.

While she sped back to the hotel, she chastised herself for not seeing it beforehand. He had been in _those_ caves with Galen, in Silas’s chamber. What was wrong with her?

She gave her head a shake. So happy to see him that it blurred her rationality. Well, in wake of the news, she wouldn’t have to worry about that.

Zooming past the hotel entrance, she went up to her room to get a few things, then she came back down to the lounge on the ground floor. On the way, she passed by a little shop from which she picked up a newspaper and a book <<Welcome to Mystic Falls!>>.

Once she was sited with her laptop on the table, cup of coffee on her right, she opened the notebook, wrote “Jeremy" as the title and drew a line in the middle.

Who could have got him to go to that island?

On the right side she wrote "Galen" and “X" to represent the hunter with the completed mark that was with them.

On the left side she wrote “witch”.

Kaithlyn opened the newspaper: the story about the Gilbert house fire was on the first page. Between pompous words meant to capture attention, she got the basics.

In the early hours of Sunday the 25th, the Gilbert residence lit up in flames. Neighbours called help and firefighters put out the fire to discover the burned body of 17-year-old Jeremy Gilbert lying on the couch in the living room. Medical help was called, but they pronounced him dead on arrival.

Few people gave statements, but two jumped out in particular: the Sheriff and the doctor on call.

Meredith Fell declared that he passed away from the burns and intoxication with smoke.

Sheriff Forbes expressed her deep remorse for this loss, seeing as she was close to the Gilbert family even before Jeremy’s parents passed away. A team of experts would look into what caused the fire.

 _Generic,_ she thought and flipped the newspaper close. Curious how the doctor didn’t address Jeremy being a few feet away from the entrance door. Why was Jeremy unable to get out of the house? Was the doctor covering something up?

Kaithlyn had some questioning to do to Jeremy’s friends. They would be able to tell her if something was off about him, if he planned to get out of town.

On the left side of the paper, she wrote “Elena”. She was his sister; he had talked about her when they were together.

A Google search later, she was on her Facebook profile. Swiping through her pictures, nothing stood out about her. In a lot of the pictures, she was with a guy with muddy blond hair and green eyes. In some pictures there was another guy with them, one with black hair and light blue eyes.

She got their names through the captions. Damon and Stefan Salvatore. Jeremy had told her Stefan was her boyfriend and based on the names she assumed Damon was his brother.

She jotted down their names under Elena.

Next, she checked Jeremy’s profile and when she least expected it, it hit her so hard it made her gasp. The witch was in one of the pictures _with_ him. They were cuddling on top of a couch, under a blanket and she wore a plaid shirt that was clearly his. The caption read: movies under candlelight with my one love. One of the comments was just three heart emojis. Clicking on the name, she got to see her picture better and say for certain that it was her. Bonnie Bennett.

Jeremy told her he wasn’t seeing anybody. They had cut it off sometime in September, it seemed based on the profile.

But this girl was the least she expected. She was so young, barely 18, what was she doing in Silas’s chamber? Was she working with the council? It didn’t look like it, a bit too young. Then could it be she was in touch with a hunter, with Galen?

She wrote her name on the paper.

Snooping through her profile, she found a very telling photo, titled “founder's party” and dated September 2010. There were two other girls with Bonnie, one of which was Elena and the other one being a girl with blonde hair. One comment “I made that chilli what it is, you’re welcome xoxo” and she got her name. Caroline Forbes. She added her to the list. 

It appeared to be a close-knit group. She should get some info out of them.

Kaithlyn texted Jayden to ask if Galen had been to Denver or Virginia in the last six months. He responded “no" and she began to wonder if Jeremy and the witch being there was an affair individual of Galen.

Next, she dug into the book she bought, into the section about the history of the town. If there was one thing she learned during her training, it was that small towns were almost never what they seemed.

And Mystic Falls was no exception.

One thing she noticed was how all of the people on her list were connected by being members of the founding families. Gilbert, Forbes, Salvatore, Fell, Lockwood. And in another part on integrating the freed slaves into society, she found the name Bennett.

So, they had been here for a long time, the witches?

As she was reading, she noticed out of the corner of her eye the same waiter that had been making eyes at her for the past thirty minutes finally come to her. He had a cocky aura about him, as if he’d catch her off guard because she was so engrossed in the book.

When he came with another coffee, she made a little jump to play into his ego.

“Interesting read?” he asked with a smirk.

She smiled sweetly. “I love small towns and the book is fine but… it’s just so stylized. I want to hear the real story.”

“Oh,” he said with a look. “Mind if join?”

Kaithlyn closed her laptop and flipped a page on her notebook in response. He sat down with an arm propped on the backseat waiting for his cue.

She was playing with the corners of the book when she said, “I heard… rumours about this town.” She moved in a little closer and continued in a hushed voice, “The animal attacks… is it true?”

He nodded. “Pretty dangerous town.”

“Was this ever addressed by someone like the Sheriff or the Mayor?”

He scratched his stubby beard. “Reporters asked the Mayor quite a bit…” He gave a dry laugh. “I just realized that we’ve gone through a few since this all started… First Mr. Lockwood in February last year and Mrs. Lockwood last December.”

“Oh, that’s a lot. How did they pass away?”

“Mr. Lockwood got locked up in a burning building and Mrs. Lockwood got so drunk at a party that she fell in a water fountain and drowned.” He raised his shoulders. “Unlucky family.”

She nodded. _Right_. “And now?”

“Mr. Bennett. He’s a cool guy. In his inaugural speech he said he’ll put an end to the animal terrorizing us.” He leaned back with the chair. “You know, I thought he was bluffing, but whatever he did…these past three months have been so chill.”

Did he do some type of spell? she wondered.

“Did the police hunt it down or something?” she asked with a chuckle.

“Nah, the Sheriff didn’t say any of that sorts. Maybe he just got lucky and the animal left on its own,” he said with a shrug, then looked around the lounge. “I have to take care of some tables. When I’m done, I can tell you more.”

“Yes, that would be… so chill,” she said, and he left with a grin on his face.

There were more things to discover, but now at least she knew that the founder families were not what they seemed. With a witch in their circle and a drastic change in the vampire attacks, they had to know about the supernatural.

,.,

The Salvatore mansion had turned into a real club house. Everything was so loud from the music and the voices and the glasses and the laughter. Of course, it would be. Who would deny the chance to party in this house?

For her the enjoyment wasn’t with them —getting wrecked, dancing, talking— it was with one person in particular. Stefan.

They were on the small balcony overlooking the library, which was transformed into a party scene with radios, bottles of alcohol, juice keggers even.

Elena had brought him here to watch over and convince himself that she was the one who was right. She did it all in a day, they didn’t need much convincing.

“Yes,” she said nodding towards the crowd. “People aren’t what they seem. They don’t care much about everyone but themselves. Always ‘how are you’ but never wanting the real answer. I’ve lived it.”

Stefan rested his hands on the guard rails, quietly watching on.

“The town doesn’t care. About my parents. Or Jenna. Or my brother.”

His posture was slumped, and his chin tilted towards his chest. For a moment he closed his eyes and slowly shook his head, letting one hand slip from the railing.

“I’m-”

“But you should!” Stefan snapped and turned towards her in a swift move. “You're his sister. We’re his friends-”

She made a step towards him. “They're his friends,” she bit, pointing at the people. “Why not them? Why does it have to be me?”

Stefan moved in too, making them inches away from each other. “What our group shared together…” His lips flattened. “This is a tragedy. We know what happened-”

“Jeremy made his own choice. He wanted the cure too. He wasn’t stupid, he knew there were risks.”

“Katherine wasn’t a ris-“

“Yes, she was,” she yelled over him. “ _Yes, she was_ ,” she repeated more poignant. “Something like the cure would have most creatures fighting to get their hands on it. Dangerous creatures. Including _her_.”

They both exhaled a long breath, the air mixing together.

“Katherine's different,” he reasoned trying to control his voice. “She knows us-“

Elena puffed her cheeks. “Really, Stefan? It’s not what she knows, it’s that even after a year of her being in our lives, you fucking can’t tell us apart.” Her arms were moving on their own and when they got hold of the railing, they squeezed so hard the wood cracked. “Not you, not Damon, not Caroline, not Bonnie and not Jeremy.” When she let go, her palms were scratched.

She turned towards the crowd and asked no one in particular, “Do people think we’re that similar?”

Elena let the question hang in the air, preferring to watch the people having fun while Stefan was gauging her. Caroline had finally made it and she wasted no time, already on duty to make sure nobody destroyed the house. Stopping people from pouring booze on the couch, picking up cups and ushering people away from the bookshelves.

Yes, she was making herself useful and if Stefan wouldn’t give her the ring, she’d become even more useful by the end of tonight.

Elena clicked her lips and with a sick smile, she said, “Look who’s having fun at the kegger.” She had just dropped down from a handstand. “Are you going to tell me to grieve with Rebekah, Stefan?”

He didn’t reply.

“She has a right to be at the party. The boy who killed her brother is dead now.” She nudged him. “Do you remember when we toasted for Klaus’s death?”

Stefan crossed his arms and opened and closed several sentences before he managed to say, “Jeremy isn’t… anything like Klaus.”

From the corner of her eye, she spotted a certain someone in the crowd, a classmate with muddy blond hair and from which she made a special request. It was time to see if she’d need it.

Elena moved her hands outwards, palms up. “Fine,” she said in a flat tone. “I proved you I’m right. Now give me my ring.”

He inched in closer to her, held her gaze and responded with a composed tone, “No.”

After he said it, she didn’t linger. She left the balcony to find the boy and get her package. To her surprise, Stefan followed closely behind until he took a turn for the exit while she went to the library.

,.,

Damon strode into the Grill with his chin up, shoulders back and relaxed, through the middle of the room to sit at his favourite place at the bar.

He wouldn’t be alone, but it would have to do.

He nodded at the bartender and ordered his usuals, on the rocks, of course.

“Figures you’d want to talk here since you grounded Elena,” he opened up, but Stefan just gulped his alcohol. “What did she do now?”

He cleared his throat. “She threw a party at our place.”

Damon cocked his head to the side and shook it. “They better not go in my bedroom. Or the library. Or touch any of my bourbon.”

Giving him a long eye, then turning away to order another glass, Stefan said, “You're like her. Both of you don’t care about Jeremy. He died! Damon, he died. He died helping us get the cure for his sister and for Klaus and for us.” He pointed a finger in the counter as he said, “I’m the only one who cares…”

Widening his eyes, Damon mumbled, “Okay” while turning away from his brother. He was unloading a lot of things tonight. God, he was so much better when he was writing this stuff in his journals.

“I talked with Elena before I left…” Stefan said and drifted off.

Damon tried to get what he meant by that, by “talking", because what he did with Elena last night on the side of the road could be considered talking. But he didn’t want to believe she would do that with him… didn’t he take her ring after all?

“We fought and she got angry…” His eyes got glassy. “Damon, for a moment I believed I got her back…”

Damon patted him on the back a few times.

Stefan slammed his glass into the counter. “And the worst is that it was all for nothing. Jeremy’s death, Elena losing her humanity and everything that follows… it was all for nothing. We don’t have the cure-”

“I'll stop you right there,” he said pointing at him. “We have a lead.”

Then he took to telling him about how he tracked down the vampire Katherine send for Hayley only to realize that he was an old friend. Will wasn’t just any vampire; he was in the business of fake identities.

In the end, he managed to get him to confess his deal with Katherine and apparently, she had put an order for a new identity last week. He did have to kill him because Katherine would torture him for snitching, so he did him a favour really.

“We have a way to get the cure,” Stefan said wide-eyed.

Damon met his gaze and raised his glass. “Yup.”

He narrowed his eyes and asked in a hushed tone, “When we get it, who are we giving it to? Do you want Elena to have it?”

The floor screeched at his side and a rushed heartbeat rang in his ear, faint heat falling on his body. He turned to look just as she opened her mouth to speak, the sudden movement rending her frozen.

Despite the sudden stop, her sharp black eyes were still trained on Stefan, who busied himself with his glass. She gave in a sweet smile and lowered her head towards him, her dark brown wavy curls leaning forward.

He cut her off. ”You can buy my brother a drink if you want, I was just about to leave.” He turned to his brother who perked up and nodded towards the messy girl. “She's all yours.”

Damon was pushing his stool to get up when she blurted out, “Are you Elena Gilbert’s boyfriend?” He opened his mouth to make the most articulated ‘yes', but she cut him off with the rest. “Stefan Salvatore?”

Damon rolled his eyes and grabbed his glass. “That's old gossip. Your sources suck. What do you-”

Stefan spoke over him with a warm voice, “Yes, that’s me. Is there a problem?”

“I want to talk with Elena.”

 _What a demand,_ he thought and rolled his eyes once more. How was the girl wearing an ugly t-shirt —with a stupid graphic— and ripped jean shorts —with frays hanging— in the position to make any demands?

Come to think of it, he had never seen her and-

“About?” His brother left the question hanging before adding in a sweet voice, “Sorry, but I don’t recognize you. Does Elena know you?”

-Stefan neither.

“Jeremy,” she said his name with power and pressed one palm to the counter, the other on her hip. “I think he was murdered.”

They were silent for a moment. Everything from the switch in demeanour to her posture to her _declaration,_ it all looked like-

“Wait, I got it,” Damon said and pushed himself off the stool to stand in front of her. “You're a journalist and you’re looking for a _juicy_ story. What a nerve for you to look for _her contacts_ just so you can come in and-”

Her smirk stopped him short. Then came her voice detached but strong, “I'm not from here.”

Damon set a hand on the bar, next to hers. “Who are you?”

“Kaithlyn-“

“No, _who are you_?”

She cleared her throat, tried to stand a little taller, but much like Elena, she still had to tilt her head to look him in the eye. “Jeremy’s friend,” she replied with a passion he found hard to believe. Jeremy didn’t have any friends, especially girls. “From Denver.”

Stefan popped up behind him, meek and sweet. “Kaithlyn, what makes you say that… about him?”

Grabbing his glass, he stepped back to let them speak. Stefan was worried that the news already got to Denver, which was odd, given that none of them contacted their relatives there.

The girl ratted on reasons —excuses— as to why it was impossible for what happened to have happened, calling up memories she shared with him as proof. Hiking trips, baseball. Her heartbeat was too stable for Damon to suspect her of lying and yet he couldn’t help but place her assurance on something more than wishful thinking.

Her body moved at ease when talking to Stefan, sometimes popping her bottom lip foreword or shrugging headshakes or kicking the ground. Even her shoulders were a bit hunched. It was overall a far cry from the girl who set her hand on the counter and smirked at him when she saw him go off on the wrong tagine.

What the hell was this girl?

“I'm just trying to figure it all out,” she mumbled, voice mellow.

“We're heartbroken, too, but we need to learn to-”

Damon stepped between them. “Why don’t you tell me when you arrived in Mystic Falls?”

“Less than two hours ago,” she said, but Damon listened more intently to that regular sound in her chest to search for any give.

There wasn’t any.

He motioned his order to the barman who went to another part of the bar to get it, but it wasn’t him who returned with it, but Matt. As he grabbed the full bottle of Jack Daniel’s, he had to resist the urge to smash it against his squared jock head. Did Matt have to get involved in everything he did?

Kaithlyn was more tense now, but actively watching the exchange between them. It was time for him to see how easily this was going to go.

Damon _looked_ into her eyes, pupils dancing as he said the next part, “I want you to take this, go home or to whatever hotel you’re staying and drink _all_ of it. I want you to realize you’re stupid and your theories are just excuses. I want you to let it go.”

Her hand mechanically reached for the bottle and her lips mirrored back his words. Then she turned on her feet and walked off, even skipping as she made her way to the entrance.

Yes, he was lucky she didn’t get a chance to drink any of the vervained water.

 _Things go my way for once!_ he thought and when he saw Matt give him that wounded human judging look, he told him to “fuck off”, which he promptly did. He was on a roll!

He finished his glass, not needing to look at him in order to tell that Stefan was giving him those eyes. It was a developed superpower.

“Would you rather I let her get to Elena? Or should I rather say let Elena get her?” Damon said, shutting him off.

The girl from last night was alive because of him, because he talked Elena into enjoying themselves somewhere in the woods. If they stayed there, she would have asked for seconds, just as he would, but he couldn’t risk anyone discovering their private time together.

Stefan sighed and shook his head. “How do we get to Katherine?”

“We don’t need to get to her. I already know where she’s headed.”

Stefan was about to say something, but his phone dinged and after he read the message, he said, blood draining from his face, “We have to go.”

,.,

It was the first time in a long time that Stefan craved human blood. Not for the taste, nor for the pleasure, but for the after feeling. He wanted his muscles to be full again, gripping to strong bones and taking him where he wanted to go so quickly, sometimes it felt like he was flying.

He pushed himself as he ran and ran but this worn body didn’t get him home nearly as quickly as it should. It was as if the ground was sticky mud, gripping to his soles as he pulled them up; as if the calm air turned into an angry wind, pushing him away; as if the whole nature was trying to remind him of how cursed he was, taking away his abilities when he needed them the most.

He would be late, and everything would be over.

The text flashed before his eyes again: _I hope you’ll get the message_.

When they arrived, Stefan hunched over, leaning on his knees and said between breaths, “We have… find Elena… and Caroline.”

Damon stood tall beside him and looked around the living room. Stefan was still regrouping himself while his brother talked with some of the people around. When his heart calmed down, he could finally hear what Damon was saying over his heartbeat.

“Don't touch that… don’t spill that… no, no, no, _not_ the carpet.”

Stefan went to him and pulled him to the side. “You're not helping. We need to hurry-”

“If Elena texted you, that means she won’t go through with what she plans without us here. She wants us to see.”

“I don’t want to give her time to _do it_. If she,” he hesitated, not being able to say it out loud, “…she won’t recover.”

Damon rolled his eyes and walked away.

Stefan didn’t want to believe it. He couldn’t hear the voice of the girls or any worrying sound over the noise or anything to find them, but Damon could. He could, but yet again he turned his back on him. And yet again he was surprised because yet again he gave him second chances. He should have known he’d react this way, given what he did to Caroline —what he never apologized for.

And for a moment, he felt Caroline’s cheeks in his hand, rough from tears and blood and his promise echoed in his mind. The further Damon went, the louder it got and all he wanted was to reach out to him and make him feel the whole what he felt, with his fists.

Rebekah giggled.

She was leaning against the windowsill next to the fireplace with a glass in hand and a cheeky smile on her face.

When he went to her, she spoke first, “I know what you want.”

Eyes closed, Stefan nodded and said, “Help me, it’s important. Elena-”

“Elena and important don’t go in the same sentence for me. The cure, that matters.”

He put his hands together. “Rebekah, please, she’s about to do something horrible that she’ll never recover from.”

Smirking, she said, “Maybe I should let her do it. Maybe I should let her break as a vampire. That may get you more interested in the cure. Because as it stands, the only way to get you to do something is if it’s for her.”

“Damon knows where Katherine is, but-”

“And? I’m not seeing enough movement. Seven people went on that island. Two didn’t come back. I’m not adverse to raising that number, if I don’t get what I want.”

“Two?”

“The professor. I found his body on the island.”

“How'd he die?”

Rebekah shrugged. “I couldn’t tell exactly, and I don’t care.”

Stefan planted his feet into the floor, staring at her. “If you want us to be a team again, you’ll have to make up for snapping my neck.”

She looked around, lips pursed, then rolled her eyes and said, “Fine. They’re in the basement. Don’t enter without signalling.”

Stefan waved her off and she lifted her glass in response. When he got in the basement, the sound of the party was toned down, under which he was able to tell the muffled whimps of Caroline.

He fought against his instincts to run and did as Rebekah said. “Elena,” he called out, tentatively. “We can talk this out.”

A dark raspy voice responded in echoes. “Come. Walk.” His slow steps followed. “Close.”

He found the door in the back of the corridor, to a room they didn’t use often. It was closed but through an iron-barred hole in it, he could see the girls.

“Move and she dies.”

Elena was on top of Caroline’s back with a stake in her hand. Its point was bloody, digging into her. The other hand had a fistful of her hair with which she pushed Caroline’s head into the sand.

“Please, don’t do this. We can fix anything, just let her go.”

Elena didn’t budge, her knees pressing further into Caroline’s ribs. “Where's Damon?”

As on cue, he appeared next to him. Damon looked at the girls with a smirk on the face. “Are you experimenting with your friend, Elena? I can join you, for science.” He grabbed the _wet_ handle and despite how it burned his hand, pushed the door open.

Stefan could now make out Caroline’s eyes, which were bloodshot red. Right, Zach used to do woodworking in this room; there must have been sawdust mixed into the sand.

But Elena grabbed his sight and, defeated, he said, “Do you want to do this?…”

She broke into a smile. “It's finally what _I_ want. Remember that,” she said to both brothers and then whispered to Caroline, “And I hope you remember what I told you.” She let go of her hair, but Caroline was crying in spite of it. Not even looking at them and in a flat tone, Elena said, “Give Damon my ring.”

Stefan dug into his pocket and placed it into his brother’s outstretched hand, who proceeded to cross his arms and lean against the door sill. Did he not care at all?

Elena yanked the stake out while Caroline yelped, tossed it to the side and proudly walked past Damon. He shrugged and followed her out, while Stefan jumped next to Caroline, scooping her into his arms.

“She attacked me. She stung me with something and dragged me here and…” she broke out into tears. Salty as they were, it seemed they helped get out some of the specks of the sawdust which got into her eyes.

_Elena got vervain from somewhere so she could overpower her…_

Stefan petted her hair as he tried to lull her to calm. “I'll take care of you, we need to wash your eyes.”

He hoisted her up and went for the exit when she interrupted him. “She took my ring… and tossed it in this room.” Her face was nestled in his chest.

“I'll get it for you later tonight, okay? Don’t worry,” he whispered back.

While his voice was soothing and calm, his insides were not. For this confirmed his fear. Everything Elena did tonight wasn’t for the ring; it was for something more.

Her freedom.

,.,

When they were back into the party, Damon turned to her and said, “Do you mind if we stop by my room?“

Elena followed him and he relinquished the feel of her body close to him. That movement, those hips, that warmth. It had been a long day of dealing with research, his brother and a noisy woman; all he could want for tonight was her.

But Damon still had a goal to accomplish, its importance made heavier by the tiny ring in his hand. He dug in the back of the lowest drawer of one of his bathroom cabinets until he found it, _the key_.

When he got it, he turned to Elena who had been patiently waiting for him. Next to her, he grabbed the ring and she reached out her fingers for him to slip it on.

With it fully secured, Damon couldn’t help but feel how right it look on her hand. She clasped the hand around his and he had to look away so his resolve wouldn’t waver.

“Let's go to New York.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know the drill. If you want this to continue, review.
> 
> Did you like the tensions between our main trio? What about the brothers meeting Kaithlyn?


End file.
